[Baljeet]

Hello everyone!

I recently purchased this 1992 VR4 and was wondering what other mods I would need to support the 15g turbos. I’ve done a good amount of research and have purchased a walbro 255lph fuel pump, hotwire kit, and 550cc injectors to avoid running lean with the upgraded turbos. From what I’ve searched, however, I will be needing something like a SAFC-II, Chrome ECU, or AEM for tuning purposes. For people who have run a similar setup, which would you recommend?

Whenever I bought it, he told me that after it’s all put together, it should make about 550awhp, which is more than enough to make me happy but how realistic is this? Also would my drivetrain be able to sustain that power if that is the case? I’ve read that our transmissions and transfer cases aren’t exactly the best for holding power especially on hard launches especially with the 1G 18 spline OS. The transmission and transfer case (t-case came with a mounting brace) are brand new never used but I want to make sure I won’t ruin them before I install anything. Would I have to get them rebuilt at Rvenge or would I be fine for my purposes? I’m not really looking to go over 550awhp anyways.

Thank you!

-Baljeet

 

[bboyalan]

Welcome!

What is your actual and realistic goal with the car? How about application and intended use? What is your background and experience with cars in general?

Typically, it is "better" to first become more familiar with the car and get it running well enough with mostly stock stuff (some of the upgrades are fine otherwise). Once you start upgrading and adding variables left and right, you open yourself up to more troubleshooting and backtracking; this can easily become a motivation killer for some people.

-sent from my Galaxy Note 9

 

[Baljeet]

Welcome!

What is your actual and realistic goal with the car? How about application and intended use? What is your background and experience with cars in general?

Typically, it is "better" to first become more familiar with the car and get it running well enough with mostly stock stuff (some of the upgrades are fine otherwise). Once you start upgrading and adding variables left and right, you open yourself up to more troubleshooting and backtracking; this can easily become a motivation killer for some people.

-sent from my Galaxy Note 9

For use, I’d say that I would use it mostly as a weekend car/fun car. Something that I can hop in and drive while being confident that I did everything I could right.

I’m aiming to make it a decently powerful street car for its weight while not completely making it unreliable and I think anywhere from 500-550awhp would be ideal for this.

Im fairly new to the car scene, just getting into cars really about 2 years ago but not too much experience. I work on aircraft however and know how to turn a wrench so I’m not completely lost. I also own a 3000gt SL that is remaining stock and I’m maintaining as I love these cars, so I’m somewhat familiar with the platform. I’ve been researching as much as I can but wanted the advice of some seasoned vets to increase the chances of this not going tits up.

I have an entire 120k mile servicing kit including gaskets, all new pulleys, water pump etc. I will of course install everything stock except for the turbos and see how the car runs initially and then install mods one by one while monitoring the cars health with a data logger.

-Baljeet

 

[Paul H.]

A lot of people go with the Chrome ECU but it depends on how much you want to tweak things. I recently put in a Maf Translator and LOVE how simple it is to hook up and my car runs better, smother and more power than I can remember and Ive had it for almost 30 years with almost the same upgrades are you are mentioning. I also have a SAFC-II but its set to zero across the board now. IF.... I decide anything needs tweaking later I can use my SAFC but for now Im happy to be able to drive it every day without any issues.

MAF Translator

The world's oldest and largest 3000GT and Dodge Stealth Source for Performance, Maintenance, and Service

www.3sx.com

The other thing, if your ECU has not been rebuilt (new capacitors) I would highly recommend having James Grieve take a look at it. Our ECU have a consistant history of the caps failing after about 15 years or so.

 

[Chang oil]

What I did instead of pushing for power on our stock drive trane which is very weak for high HP.... what I did is upgrade and go over kill on my drive trane first before I push for power ...
I'm running with everything internal to the engine bone stock excluding the big bore lifter in my 92 .... gates blue japan made racing timing belt / CXracing front mount inner cooler / twin 1mm bigger quick spools 9b Td04's... 46ish mm compressor wheel... 53ish mm turbine .... 550cc injector 255 walbro 3sx strait wired .....I don't have to wait to build boost its snaps quick.... (engine bay dress up) (2 bolt main) 6g72 Chrome ECU

W5MG1 transmission 5 speed 18 spline
Stage 3 build
Torsen and quaife diffs installed its limited slip front to rear ( car never took a corner like this amazing ) with all wheel steering
All syncros replaced
Peened
Blueprinted syncros
Ball bearing short throw shifter
Solid brass cable shifter bushings
Solid shifter base bushings
300 M ( shafts ) through out transmission
300 M transfer case ( shafts ) also 3/4 caged
Stage 3 plus drag 6 puck South Bend clutch
OEM (new flywheel)
2 piece PSA steel to aluminum drive shaft
( with this drive shaft it has a tendency of giving off a good bit of drive trane vibration getting a single 1 piece driveshaft is worse I've heard )
But my 2 piece has settled in on rubber bushing where it bolts up to a single carrier bearing and has little to No vibration what so ever now ....
Cars pushing 13 lbs of boost at the moment but I'll have to take my Arashi wastegate actuators back off to install 2 other sets of springs to get my boost up to 15 16ish... any higher then this on stock internals on 2 bolt main is bad unless tuned correctly but why chance it
But this is What I did and where I'm at right now which kinda sucks because my car just broke coming in the driveway today LOL go figure

My Throttle body position sensor has ZERO continuity from closed to fully open 🤬

But big power plans are coming to push for 700 hp .....
(If parts are still available)

(This is a show car and my weekend warrior)

 

[OldMadBrit]

Writing as a guy with a 550 - 600 WHP VR4 - for a daily driver and weekend toy - IMHO you really don't want or need 550WHP.

It's all too easy to get caught up in the HP game - and the stock HP figures for modern sports cars are through the roof. What the OEMs don't make clear is that most of the time, you are traction limited and the ECUs are dialing back the HP to a fraction of its rated max.

VR4's are old school, all analogue cars, with zero traction control or other aids. They were designed and built in the time when 375HP 911 Turbos were literally killing their drivers. Unless you are on a track with properly warmed up tires, it's pretty difficult to actually use a real 550WHP, if you don't have a 6-axis IMU and a bunch of driver aides looking out for you. We all focus on WHP but we need to put that into context, 550WHP is >660 crank HP - i.e. more than a Mclaren MP12-4c or a Lambo Murcialago - 2 cars that are pretty good at spinning off the road and into a wall.

Mine's got pretty much every transmission, suspension and brake upgrade you can get - Quaife front, Torsen center, KAAZ rear diffs, Ohlins coil-overs and 6 pot brakes, corner weighted, and I had it set-up by an actual race-car shop. Despite all of that it will absolutely throw me into a wall, if I get on it too hard in the wrong place.

It will also get up to 160 before you have time to think. In fact, it's more intimidating to drive than my 205HP Yamaha R1M track bike is to ride. It's a demonstration of why all modern sports cars come with a ton of electronics. I actually dialed mine back to ~470WHP for street use and its way more fun.

The good news is that you are unlikely to get 550AWHP on a stock motor with 15Gs and not much else. IMHO, you will have a more robust, reliable and pleasing weekend toy with 400-47WHP running on a Chrome ECU with basic power upgrades and a big brake kit (the stock brakes are totally inadequate for anything more than 400WHP).

I'm running an all-forged stg 3 motor with maxed-out 20T TDO4s on tubular headers, 90mm TB, bored and honed intake, 760 injectors, AEM, dual AFR, water methanol, etc. I have also blown it up twice at >$10K/rebuild - because above 24lb of boost on pump gas, it really doesn't take much to go wrong (like a crappy knock sensor, cracked header, or a tune error) to throw a rod, bearing or both.

 

[Jorden]

Hello everyone!

I recently purchased this 1992 VR4 and was wondering what other mods I would need to support the 15g turbos. I’ve done a good amount of research and have purchased a walbro 255lph fuel pump, hotwire kit, and 550cc injectors to avoid running lean with the upgraded turbos. From what I’ve searched, however, I will be needing something like a SAFC-II, Chrome ECU, or AEM for tuning purposes. For people who have run a similar setup, which would you recommend?

Whenever I bought it, he told me that after it’s all put together, it should make about 550awhp, which is more than enough to make me happy but how realistic is this? Also would my drivetrain be able to sustain that power if that is the case? I’ve read that our transmissions and transfer cases aren’t exactly the best for holding power especially on hard launches especially with the 1G 18 spline OS. The transmission and transfer case (t-case came with a mounting brace) are brand new never used but I want to make sure I won’t ruin them before I install anything. Would I have to get them rebuilt at Rvenge or would I be fine for my purposes? I’m not really looking to go over 550awhp anyways.

Thank you!

-Baljeet

Sir: Your budget is exceeding your grasp. Buying up scale components and "then speculating" as to what outcome to expect, is in my opinion, unrealistic. A specific goal is achievable with more "product knowledge" and less speculation. Talk to a shop and perhaps they can answer your questions and even "blueprint" an engine for you. Good luck!

 

[gawdzinner]

Hello everyone!

I recently purchased this 1992 VR4 and was wondering what other mods I would need to support the 15g turbos. I’ve done a good amount of research and have purchased a walbro 255lph fuel pump, hotwire kit, and 550cc injectors to avoid running lean with the upgraded turbos. From what I’ve searched, however, I will be needing something like a SAFC-II, Chrome ECU, or AEM for tuning purposes. For people who have run a similar setup, which would you recommend?

Whenever I bought it, he told me that after it’s all put together, it should make about 550awhp, which is more than enough to make me happy but how realistic is this? Also would my drivetrain be able to sustain that power if that is the case? I’ve read that our transmissions and transfer cases aren’t exactly the best for holding power especially on hard launches especially with the 1G 18 spline OS. The transmission and transfer case (t-case came with a mounting brace) are brand new never used but I want to make sure I won’t ruin them before I install anything. Would I have to get them rebuilt at Rvenge or would I be fine for my purposes? I’m not really looking to go over 550awhp anyways.

Thank you!

-Baljeet

you can run 15g with stock ECU/injectors/fuel if the boost is turned down, so at least you can start at that and do some logging with a wideband to get an understanding of how car is running before doing more mods.